Electricity bills: second home, price increases are flying in 2017

The effects of the bill reform launched by the Energy Authority on the recommendation of the government are being felt, in implementation of the European directive on energy efficiency. For non-residents who consume little, price increases of up to 50%. The reasons for economic policy

Electricity: those who consume the least, spend the most. The more you consume, the less you spend. Of course, proportionally.
This is the novelty awaiting those who own a second home in Italy in 2017. And it is a novelty dictated by the reform of electricity bills launched by the Authority to prepare Italians, families and businesses, for the transition towards a greater electricity consumption, but an electricity that is increasingly renewable and therefore in line with European guidelines on climate and energy efficiency. Indeed, the directive on efficiency promotes the use of equipment – such as hot-cold systems with heat pumps – which require greater electricity consumption.

What happens now? It happens that, on second homes, the weight of the fixed quota on system charges increases, that item of the bills that serves to repay the costs of the incentives for renewables or the decommissioning of nuclear power. The reform took effect on 1 January 2016 but made its effects felt more stringently on 1 January this year when the fixed quota on system charges rose to 135 euros plus VAT per year (according to the rate update for the first three months), then reduced to 127,4 euros in the second and third quarters.

According to a survey conducted by Ref Ricerche for Sole 24 Ore, second homes with low consumption thus found themselves paying bills up to 50% higher, while second homes with high consumption will pay on average 12% less than in the previous period. reform.

The choice, articulated by the Authority on the government's political indications, is very clear: in order to direct bills to the effective cost of energy, an attempt has been made to favor energy-intensive and exporting companies; together with less well-off or otherwise resident families. Energy costs them less while it costs more for non-residents, artisans, professionals and traders. Right or wrong it is not so easy to say because the energy transition underway could in the end, if not exactly balance the bill, at least mitigate its more unequal effects.